BIRTHDAY WISHES!
The small pleasures of life are found in the little things. In people who make us smile, in the people who understand us even without words.
The little pleasures in life lie in the things we almost always take for granted, just assuming they will always be there. As we grow older, it has become very clear to me there are so many ‘little’ things to appreciate and be grateful for daily and what a special privilege it is to simply have each other to share life with. The little everyday things seem to take on much greater importance. Maybe it’s the state of our world at this time that has made it very clear not to take anything for granted. Throughout our married life Brion has always gone above and beyond to look after us. I am grateful to have the privilege of such a loving and caring husband.
I find this quote from Steven Aitchison so fitting, ‘If I could give you one special ability in life it would be the gift of seeing yourself through the eyes of someone who loves you …. then you would realize just how amazing you truly are’.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRION, WITH LOVE!
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Raspberry Custard Cinnamon Rolls
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Ingredients
Cream Cheese Drizzle, optional
Raspberry Glaze, optional
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Drizzle, optional
Raspberry Glaze, optional
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Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Rate this recipe!
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Instructions
Dough
Whisk the warm milk, 2 Tbsp sugar & yeast together in a bowl. Allow mixture to sit for about 5 minutes or until foamy on top.
With a handheld mixer, beat in the remaining 3 Tbsp sugar & softened butter until it is slightly broken up. Add eggs, vanilla & salt. Beat at a medium speed until combined. The butter won’t really be mixing into the mixture, so don’t be concerned if it stays in pieces.
Using the mixer, add 1 cup of flour making sure it’s fully incorporated, then using a fork add the remaining 3 cups, mixing the dough by hand. It should only take about 3 minutes until the dough comes together & pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Dough will be soft.
Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise.
Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or use nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap & a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm place for 2 hours or until double in size.
Butter the bottom & sides of a 9×13-inch baking dish.
Punch down the dough to release the air. Place dough on a lightly floured work surface & using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough into a 12×18-inch rectangle. Make sure the dough is smooth & evenly thick.
Filling
In a medium bowl, toss the frozen raspberries with sugar & cornstarch. Spread the cold sugared raspberries evenly over the dough. Tightly roll up the dough to form an 18-inch long log. With an extra sharp knife or an unscented piece of floss, cut into 18 even rolls. Arrange in a buttered 9 x 13” glass baking pan.
Cover the rolls with a buttered piece of plastic wrap & a tea towel. Allow to rise until puffy, about 20 minutes. The berries will release their juice at the bottom of the pan—this is OK.
Custard
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until the yolks & whites are fully combined. Add the whole milk, heavy cream, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon & salt. Whisk until the brown sugar is dissolved & the mixture looks smooth & evenly speckled with cinnamon.
Slowly pour the custard over the rolls in the glass baking dish, making sure to cover all the pieces so they soak up the custard. Gently press down any pieces that sit too high, so everything is lightly moistened.
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Let the dish rest on the counter for 30 minutes to allow the rolls to start absorbing the sweet mixture. This short soak helps the casserole bake up custardy rather than dry.
Place the dish on the center rack of the preheated oven & bake for 30–40 minutes, or until the top is puffed & golden brown & the custard is set in the center. A knife inserted in the middle should come out mostly clean, with no liquid custard clinging to it.
Remove the casserole from the oven & let it cool for about 10 minutes. If using, top rolls with cream cheese drizzle followed by the raspberry glaze.
Cream Cheese Drizzle
In a small blender, place all ingredients & blend until smooth & of drizzle consistency.
Raspberry Glaze
Place all glaze ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook while stirring until mixture is clear & bubbling. Remove from heat
Store any leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days & reheat gently in a low oven or microwave before serving.
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Recipe Notes
• If you prefer a custard with a slightly lighter texture, replace the heavy cream with additional whole milk & reduce the brown sugar to ¼ cup.
• Cream cheese drizzle & raspberry glaze are purely optional. Since none of the components of the rolls are not overly sweet, adding the extra toppings still works if you choose to use them.
Basic bread pudding is one of those desserts that has become lost in the shuffle it seems. Truly a comfort food for those of us that remember it from childhood days. Most of my memories are of the classic recipe— a simple mixture of eggs, milk, sugar, flavorings, raisins and of course, some stale bread.
Bread puddings date back centuries. For the vast majority of human history most people could not afford to waste food, so numerous uses for stale bread were invented.
Today, bread puddings are still being made but they are far more luxurious, often using gourmet breads, vanilla beans, bourbon, expensive cheeses and nuts.
Having a German heritage, German recipes and food history are especially interesting to me. It seems in Germany there are two versions of bread pudding, one with apples and the other with sour cherries.
It just so happens I have some of both which has inspired today’s blog recipe. All things are possible with bread pudding so if you don’t like either, just substitute blueberries, raspberries, canned peaches, pears, dried apricots, cranberries or whatever you like because you know its all going to be good!
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Apple & Sour Cherry Bread Pudding
Votes: 6
Rating: 4.67
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Votes: 6
Rating: 4.67
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Instructions
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Butter an 8 x 8-inch baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk together brandy, milk, eggs, sugar, butter, cinnamon, salt & vanilla. Add bread cubes, cherries & apples folding together with a rubber spatula. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish, flatten with spatula , making sure fruit is distributed evenly. Cover with plastic wrap & refrigerate for about 15 minutes so bread absorbs all the liquid.
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Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake pudding about 55-65 minutes or until top is golden & center is set. Nice to serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Spring has finally arrived (at least that’s what the calendar says)! It’s time to bring our taste buds out of hibernation and put our winter favorites on the back burner in favor of fresh spring flavors. Nothing says spring more than the taste of lemon. Fabulously versatile, lemons create a zesty, fresh flavor perfect for some spring zing.
I believe Lemon Meringue Pie entered the mainstream culture in the 1940’s and remained popular through the 50′ and 60’s. It was definitely one of those desserts that most men of that time, including my dad, just loved.
In doing a little research on the subject, it seems in 1951, the Sunkist lemon producers came up with a ‘new idea’. It was a Lemon Cheesecake pie in a graham wafer crust. It was advertised to be quick, easy, inexpensive as well as delicious!
In March of 1959, the Family Circle magazine published a recipe for a Lemon ‘Pudding’ Cheesecake pie. This version required no cooking and basically had only about four ingredients. The idea appears to have been one from ‘General Foods’ using their Jell-o Instant Lemon Pudding mix. It hardly seems it could be much easier than that.
In the spring of 2004, I saw a recipe on kraftcanada.com for a more current remake of this recipe. Of course it takes longer to make and uses twice the amount of ingredients but sounded real good.
Just for fun, I decided to make the 1959 version with the addition of some lemon zest for a more vibrant lemon flavor.
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'Retro' Lemon Pudding Cheesecake Pie
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Instructions
Graham Crust
In a bowl, combine graham crumbs, sugar & melted margarine. Mix well. Reserve 1/4 cup of mixture for topping. Press remainder on bottom & up sides of an 8-inch pie pan or spread evenly on the bottom of an 8-inch spring form pan.
Filling
In a bowl, soften cream cheese, blend with 1/2 cup milk. Add remaining milk, lemon zest & pudding powder mix. Beat on low, just until well mixed, about 1 minute (do not overbeat). Pour filling into graham crust. Sprinkle top with remaining 1/4 of crumbs. Chill at least 1 hour.
Recipe Notes
- Just a little side note -- On April 16, 2016 I had published a blog which featured a No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake. It was one of the first cheesecakes my mother made. It used lemon jell-o powder and was extremely light tasting. We loved it!
- I tried making the filling with 1% milk & light cream cheese as well as adding some food color to brighten it up, all adjustments worked out real good. Definitely made it a guilt-free dessert!
Germany’s love of poppy seed is no secret, you can find it in everything from sweet to savory foods. For many German and central eastern Europeans, poppy seeds are a symbol of wealth, the tiny seeds representing coins. They figure prominently at Christmas and New Year’s, expressing hoped-for prosperity in the coming year.
Poppy seed cultivation dates back to 1400 BC. Early Egyptians pressed the seed into cooking oil whereas the the ancient Romans mixed them with wine and honey for Olympic athletes or home use. It should be made clear though, that this spice is not narcotic because opium is found in the pod and not in the seed itself. The dried pod loses any of it’s opiate properties long before the seeds are harvested.
‘Mohn Kaffee Rolle’ is considered a nostalgic German Christmas pastry much like Stollen is. One thing for certain, in keeping with true European tradition, poppy seed is added in such large quantities that the dough sometimes looks black.
When I recall my mother’s poppy seed roll, it was never dry. It seemed like a vanilla custard with ‘wall to wall’ poppy seeds in it. There were numerous recipes in her file — cake, roll, twists, cookies, strudel, pudding — everything and anything poppy seed! This recipe seems unique in that it uses a ‘Zwillingsteig’ (zwilling=twin, teig=dough) dough, a rich, moist dough used in the past when making cakes with fresh fruit. The dough is a combination of yeasted and shortcrust dough kneaded together. It seems a little involved but is well worth it in the end. One more special ‘taste of a memory’ before the holiday season is to far behind us.
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'Mohn Kaffee Rolle' - Poppy Seed Coffee Roll
A unique, very tender pastry, slightly sweet with loads of poppy seeds!
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
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Instructions
Shortcrust Dough
In a bowl, place all shortcrust ingredients & quickly knead together until well combined. Shape into a disk & set aside. Dough can be made a day ahead, wrapped in plastic wrap & refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before combining with yeast dough.
Yeast Dough
In a small dish, sprinkle yeast over lukewarm water, add 1 tsp sugar stirring until dissolved. Let stand 5 minutes. Sift flour with 3 Tbsp sugar & salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender. Add lukewarm milk, egg & vanilla to yeast mixture, then gradually add to flour mixture & blend.
Press dough out to about 1 inch thickness & lay disk of shortcrust on top. Knead together by hand until fully combined, about 2 minutes. Shape into a ball & place in a greased bowl. Cover with a tea towel, let raise in a warm, draft free spot for about an hour or until doubled in size.
Poppy Seed Filling
Grind poppy seeds. In a small saucepan, combine poppy seeds, sugar, semolina & salt. Add butter & milk. Place over medium high heat; stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Remove from heat immediately & set aside to cool. When mixture is lukewarm, stir in egg, vanilla, rum & walnuts. Set aside.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. When dough has risen, punch down & roll out on a lightly floured surface about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thickness.
Spread with cooled poppy seed filling leaving a 1 inch border on each of the shorter ends. Brush shorter ends with egg wash. Starting from shorter end, roll dough, jelly-roll style, into a tight log. Cut into 2 loaf pan lengths.
With a sharp knife, cut each log of dough in half lengthwise. Carefully twist the two pieces of dough together & place into prepared pans. Brush dough with egg wash, cover with greased plastic wrap & let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 F. When dough has risen, brush again with egg wash & bake about 40 minutes or until golden brown. When loaves have fully cooled, whisk together powdered sugar, water & lemon zest until smooth. Brush glaze over loaves & allow to set before slicing.
Recipe Notes
- Unless you can find freshly ground poppy seeds, it is best to buy the whole seeds, store them in the freezer and grind them right before using. Because of their high oil content, the seeds easily turn rancid.
- Good poppy seeds smell slightly 'musty' and have a nutty flavor - not bitter or harsh.
